Top 10 Worst American Cities For Foodies

The Movoto blog, an extension of Movoto Real Estate, typically supplies readers with real estate related stories and trends along with a tongue-in-cheek back-beat narrative. The blog writers recently put together a list of cities they claim will leave a bad taste in the mouths of die-hard foodies.

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The blog crew supposedly used data from Yelp and examined the 100 most populous cities in the U.S. based on restaurants, bakeries and food trucks per capita, among other select criteria.

Each city was ranked from 1 to 100 based on these various criteria and then given an average score for each city. The higher a city’s Big Deal Score, the worse it is for food lovers.

Randy Nelson, content editor for the blog claims a city with fewer restaurants per capita is going to offer less variety, and writes:

“North Las Vegas, NV, ranked last in this category with one restaurant for every 808 residents. St. Petersburg, FL placed second-to-last with one for every 806, while Indianapolis, IN has one restaurant for every 752 people who live there. For some context, the best city for restaurants, Orlando, FL, has one for every 90 residents.”

Nelson added that Detroit, MI has the fewest food and wine festivals per capita, with one for every 655,568 residents. Second-worst is El Paso, TX with one for every 665,568 people there and Mesa, Az, in third-to-last place, has one for every 446,518.

And El Paso, TX came in last in the “Gourmet Grocery Store” category with one gourmet grocer for every 665,568 residents. Forth Worth, TX was second-worst with one for every 379,369 residents while Arlington, TX was third-worst with one for every 373,698.

For more on how Nelson compiled their trademark Big Deal Lists, check out this page.

America’s 10 Worst Cities for Food Lovers

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#1 San Bernardino, CA

Home of the first McDonald’s restaurant, San Bernardino is otherwise a dead zone for everything foodie.

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#2 Garland, TX

Candy shops are scarce in Garland, but this chicken fried steak from Hubbard’s Cubbard sure looks sweet.

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3 North Las Vegas, NV

Last place for restaurants per capita, North Las Vegas somewhat redeems itself by having one called the Road Kill Grill.

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#4 El Paso, TX

This city may come in last for gourmet grocers, but at least you can get three tacos for less than $2.

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#5 Laredo, TX

Even if food trucks are rare, at least you’re set for good barbecue in Laredo.

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#6 Fort Worth, TX

There’s plenty of Tex-Mex in Fort Worth. Bakeries? Not so much

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#7 St. Petersburg, FL

You’re all set for deli food in St. Petersburg. Fine dining, though, isn’t as convenient.

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#8 Corpus Christi, TX

Gourmet grocery stores are not the strong suit of Corpus Christi.

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#9 Detroit, MI

Motor City likes its food simple. Case in point: the Sloppy Joe.

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#10 Chesapeake, VA

You can get a good burger in Chesapeake, but don’t expect your culinary options to be vast.

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Inquisitive foodie with a professional investigative background and strong belief in the organic farm to table movement. Author of Bad Seeds: A FriendsEAT Guide to GMO's.